Using Social Media for Reputation Management

One emergent trend in the public relations field is the use of social media for reputation
management. Over time, social media has become a crucial part of any sort of public relations
or marketing plan for every company, brand, or organization. As Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram
have become more prevalent and a part of everyday life for consumers, it’s impossible to reach
your key audiences without engaging with social media at least a little. However, the trend
emerging in PR is not only just using social media, but using it as the most direct way to reach
audiences and work through a crisis and maintain reputation.

American Airlines

The first example of this is how airlines use

social media as a way to confront and deal with
customer complaints or issues. When people
tweet at airlines, they may not always expect a
response, but rather a chance to speak their
issues out and share with people that follow
them. For a company worried about reputation,
having customers voice their complaints into a
space such as Twitter can be harmful due to just
how many people could see it. Many airlines have a dedicated team or social media account
dedicated primarily to responding to these complaints and working to publicly smooth things
over. One example of this is American Airlines on Twitter responding to customer complaints.

Twitter/ “X”

Another example of social media being used for reputation management is Twitter itself. When
Elon Musk bought Twitter and renamed it X, there was an onslaught of backlash against not
only the changes to the application, but against Musk’s personal influence and involvement with
the company. Instead of having X’s corporate team create responses to the crises and backlash,
Musk took it upon himself to use the platform to speak directly with users of the app to comment
on the complaints. It’s not the best method, because many people are calling it unprofessional
or strange, but it does play into this idea that social media is the best way to change the
reputation of a company simply due to the fact that it is so direct. Cutting out the middleman in
any form of communication helps the person on the consumer end of the issue feel like their
specific issues are being heard and dealt with, and makes the company seem better at
resolving issues (Even if Musk doesn’t always provide a legitimate response to the issue).

Glossier

The final example of social media being used for reputation management is the makeup
company Glossier. A big part of Glossier’s image is about their natural, personal, and authentic
persona. In 2020, there were many anonymous claims made by Glossier employees that there
was a culture of racism and toxicity within the
company. People then jumped on the hate bandwagon
and shared how they felt alienated by the brand. Since
then, the brand has pivoted, making diversity and
inclusion a big part of their social media campaigns in
an attempt to change public perception of the
company. Instead of focusing on universal products,
they worked on helping their reputation by using Tik
Tok and Twitter to reach individuals, and hope that
word of mouth on social media will help.

Why Does This Matter?

There’s a few reasons why this trend is so important for the public relations industry. The first is
that social media is the best method for cutting through the noise. In an industry where the most
important goal is keeping a positive reputation, social media is the most direct way to do that. As
people become less enamored with brands and companies and start to value honesty and
personal voice, social media is also a good way to achieve that. The way that social media is
being used to manage reputation is quickly changing, going from a second thought of
companies to the main method used.